Coll Mor

Towering, ancient trees comprising dense forests cast shadows over perfectly tended vineyards and farmlands nestled between rushing rivers and their meandering tributaries. Elegant ships with designs that make them look more like graceful swans skim along the many rivers of Coll Mor, carrying trade goods and travelers alike.
At the heart of Coll Mir rests their capital city. It is a shining thing resting at the fork where two rivers become one. At its center most point is the royal palace. Imposing and sprawling, it has four mighty towers, providing a view not only over the city below but out to the rivers themselves. Rumour has it, that if one were to stand on the balcony located off the heart of the palace, you can speak and those on the ground will be able to hear you clearly without the need to shout. Some say that it is an old enchantment left over from bygone ages when magic was more plentiful and the High Elves who built this city were its masters. Others claim it is simply a trick of clever gnomish engineering.
Toward the south, across several rivers, is another city, and at the center of this city sits one of the only two magic towers known to be left in existence. The college centered around this tower has a campus built among the ancient trees, walkways spreading from one building to the next. To the north is the only other true city in Coll Mor, heavily populated by wood elves. This is the location of the original temple to the Goddess, and while used less by the High Mother than the temple built into the royal palace, it is a place of significance few are allowed to tread without express permission. As such, it is kept under heavy guard and tended to by the High Mother’s most trusted priestesses when she is not there to tend it herself.
King. High Mother. Titles whispered with reverence by the dedicated and devout population.
These are the two pillars which hold society in Coll Mor up. The King acts as the head of state, and his word is absolute. His wife, meanwhile, is known as High Mother, for her role as the head of Coll Mir’s church. Church doctrine states that the High Mother is the living conduit on the mortal world for The Goddess. As such, when a woman is chosen to marry the Crown Prince and become the new High Mother, she is put through extensive tests of faith, purity, and strength of spirit, culminating in an intricate and secretive ritual wherein she is finally married to the Crown Prince. The only people allowed to witness this ritual are members of the court’s highest echelons, as it is considered a sacred rite.
No one aside from those permitted in the room during these rare occasions and the high priestesses of the faith know what exactly is entailed in these rituals, but it is whispered the world over that in ages past, women who were determined to be unworthy of being the conduit for The Goddess died before the ritual was complete, their families shamed, and a new candidate would be chosen in her place.
It has been found in recent years that elves, who already procreated at a much lesser rate than other races on Talav Mor, have suffered slower and lower and lower birth rates. While not an immediate problem for wood elves, who still seem to reproduce at a rate to keep the race alive, High Elves have been dying out earlier and being born less and less, decimating a large portion of their population in the past several hundred years. They’re now outnumbered two to one by their wood elf brethren, whom they always viewed as their lower born cousins.
The discovery of this problem has resulted in a heightened importance being placed on the female members of their kingdom. Importance – and control. Every woman in Coll Mor, including even the High Mother, has become the property of the men in their families – frequently husbands, but before marriage fathers, brothers, and uncles. They are at once venerated – nearly worshipped at the same time they are protected with a sort of ferocity that can be born only of desperation. Women are not permitted to own their own property, and full blooded elven women are not permitted to hold professions of any kind outside of running their homes. To offset this, it has become a common practice for slaves to be purchased from Taqam and put to work in more menial tasks commonly held by women, such as maid and seamstress work.

Government System:  Monarchy
Races Makeup:

• 30% High Elves
• 62% Wood Elves
• 2.5% Half Elves
• 5% Humans
• .5% Misc

Pro: One of the only two places to learn magic, home of the oldest known race and keepers of one of the oldest libraries in the known world
Con: Strict patriarchy, women have little to no actual rights here, highly defended borders